Spiral band locking mechanism

ABSTRACT

A projectile holding apparatus or rack includes a plurality of spring-biased steel bands for securing a plurality of projectiles in the rack. Each of the securing steel bands may be individually moved to release or secure projectiles disposed within corresponding projectile storage tubes. The steel bands include a part to at least partially spiral around a projectile such that projectiles of different lengths may be accommodated. A gang control may be used for simultaneously locking and unlocking the projectiles within the projectile storage tubes. The gang control is further operable to move all of the securing bands from their releasing positions to their securing positions.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to locking mechanisms for securingprojectiles within projectile storage racks.

The modern war is often a war of logistics where the winner isdetermined by the ability to efficiently transport men and material.Accordingly, it is essential to optimize the conveyance of ammunitionsuch as projectiles and shells.

For simplicity, "projectiles" as used herein shall be considered toinclude shells, missiles, torpedos, bombs, and more generallyammunition.

The storage or transportation of projectiles generally requires abalancing between two conflicting considerations. On the one hand, theprojectiles should be stored such that it is easy to remove them fromtheir storage mechanism as required for usage of the projectile. On theother hand, the projectiles must be stored such that they will not bejarred loose by nearby explosions or while being transported along abumpy road. Generally, the more secure a projectile is from accidentaldislodgement, the more time consuming it is to remove the projectilefrom its storage facility.

One common method for transportation and storage of projectiles is byuse of a wooden pallet. The pallet is normally configured in two rows offour projectiles. The wooden pallet consists of upper and lower woodlaminates held together with steel banding. The bases of the projectilesrest on the lower wood laminate board and the nose protrudes throughholes drilled in the top wood laminate board.

The use of wooden pallets is subject to numerous disadvantages. For onething, the steel banding must be cut or otherwise removed to allowaccess to all of the projectiles. This in turn necessitates therebanding of the wooden pallet if the projectiles are to be resecured.

To support self-propelled howitzers in the field, it is necessary tocarry ammunition such as 100-200 pound projectiles over rough terrain.The projectiles are carried in horizontal tubes in the self-propelledhawitzers and ammunition resupply vehicles. Safety considerationsrequire that the projectiles be held in the tubes during travel.

Some of the prior art problems with storage and transportation ofprojectiles have been overcome by the projectile lock assembly disclosedin U.S. Pat. No. 4,344,528, issued Aug. 17, 1982 to Ayyala Perisastry,Richard A. Vishe, and Peter J. Hoet. The projectile lock assemblydisclosed in that patent, which is assigned to the assignee of thepresent invention, uses a rack having a plurality of parallelcylindrical tubes. A number of locking assemblies are mounted along eachof the tubes and used for individually locking projectiles within theassociated tube.

Although the projectile lock assembly of the Perisastry et al. patent isextremely useful in providing a storage rack for projectiles, it hasbeen subject to several disadvantages. In particular, each projectilemust be individually secured within its corresponding storage tube.Depending upon the number of projectiles which need to be secured, thisis time consuming. Indeed, if the projectile storage racks were withinan ammunition supply vehicle, the vehicle should remain stationary (andthus quite vulnerable) until all of the projectiles were secured.

A disadvantage which is common to numerous prior art designs is theirinability to adapt to different length and different diameterprojectiles. A further disadvantage with most prior art projectilestorage racks is that the projectiles are either locked into position orfree to move. Such prior art designs do not have options other thenlocking the projectile (such that unlocking is likely to be timeconsuming) or having the projectiles unsecured (such that nearbyexplosions due to enemy action could cause the projectile to fall out ofits rack).

A further disadvantage common among prior art projectile rack assembliesis that the controls used for locking and/or unlocking the projectilesare not very convenient to operate.

Another disadvantage among some prior art designs is the requirement forprecision tolerances among numerous small parts such as cams.

OBJECTS AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, it is a primary object of the present invention to providea new and improved apparatus for securely holding projectiles.

A more specific object of the present invention is to provide anapparatus for securely holding projectiles wherein projectiles may beindependently secured and/or released, the apparatus at the same timeallowing for the projectiles to be secured as a group.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a projectileholding apparatus wherein projectiles may be placed in a securedcondition of intermediate safety between a locked condition and areleased condition.

A still further object of the present invention is to provide aprojectile holding apparatus which will readily accommodate projectilesof different lengths and/or diameters.

Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a projectileholding apparatus which may be conveniently and very quickly used tosecure projectiles.

The above and other objects of the present invention which will becomeapparent as the description proceeds are realized by an apparatus forsecurely holding projectiles comprising: (a) an assembly body having afront, a back, and a plurality of projectile storage zones extendingfrom the back to the front, each of the zones being open at its frontand operable to hold at least part of a projectile with the nose of theprojectile freely; (b) a plurality of securing portions, each securingportion corresponding to one of the zones, and disposable in:

I. a securing position to prevent movement of a projectile out of thecorresponding zone through the front; and

II. a release position to allow removal of a projectile out of thecorresponding zone through the front; (c) a plurality of manuallyoperable controllers, each controller corresponding with one of thesecuring portions and independently disposable in:

I. a securing state disposing the corresponding securing portion in itssecuring position; and

II. a release state disposing the corresponding securing portion in itsrelease position;

and (d) a gang control disposable in a securing state wherein thesecuring portions are moved from their release positions to theirsecuring positions. Each of the controllers is preferably disposed inits release state by placing it in a corresponding release catch. Thegang control is operable to move the securing portions from theirrelease positions to their securing positions by displacing thecontrollers from their corresponding release catches. Each of thecontrollers is spring-biased and each of the securing portions includesa securing band attached to one of the controllers. The gang controlincludes a slidable structure mounted at the front of the assembly bodyfor up and down sliding movement. The gang control further includes atleast one handle pivotably mounted to the front of the assembly body andoperable to move the slidable structure. The gang control is furtherdisposable in a locking state such that the securing portions may belocked against movement out of their securing positions. The gangcontrol is further disposable in a neutral state wherein the controllersmay be individually set to either their securing positions or theirreleasing positions, and, in the neutral state, the slidable structureof the gang control is intermediate to its positions corresponding tothe securing state and the locking state. The securing portions areflexible bands operable to accommodate projectiles of varying lengths.The securing portions each include a spiral band part secured at itsback to the assembly body and extending towards the front of theassembly body and operable to at least partially spiral around aprojectile.

The invention may alternately be described as an apparatus for securelyholding projectiles comprising the parts of (a) through (c) abovecombined with a gang control disposable in a locking state such that thesecuring portions may be locked against movement out of their securingpositions. The gang control is preferably movably mounted to theassembly body and operable to change the state of the controllers suchthat the positions of the securing portions are in turn changed. Thegang control is further disposable in a securing state wherein thesecuring portions are moved from their release positions to theirsecuring positions. The apparatus further comprises at least one lockcatch corresponding to each of the controllers and operable to preventmovement of the corresponding controller and, in turn, lock thecorresponding securing portion in its securing position. Each lock catchis one of a series of serrated portions, each serrated portioncorresponding to one of the controllers. Each serrated portion ismounted to the slidable structure for movement therewith. The slidablestructure includes at least an upper horizontal bar, a lower horizontalbar, and two connecting bars extending therebetween, each horizontal barcorresponding to a row of the projectile storage zones.

The present invention may alternately be described as an apparatus forsecurely holding projectiles comprising the parts in (a) through (c)above and combined with a gang control movably mounted to the body andoperable to change the state of the controllers such that the positionsof the securing portions are in turn changed. The gang control isdisposable in a locking state such that the securing portions may belocked against movement out of their securing positions.

The present invention may alternately be described as an apparatus forsecurely holding projectiles comprising: an assembly body having afront, a back, and a plurality of projectile storage zones extendingfrom the back to the front, each of the zones being open at its frontand operable to hold at least part of a projectile with the nose of theprojectile freely accessible; a plurality of securing bands operable tosecure projectiles at their ogives, at least one securing bandcorresponding to each of the zones and disposable in:

I. a securing position to prevent movement of a projectile out of thecorresponding zone through the front; and

II. a release position to allow removal of a projectile out of thecorresponding zone through the front; and

a plurality of spring-biased manually operable rod controllers, eachcontroller corresponding with one of the zones, attached to acorresponding one of the securing bands, and having a front portionextending generally from the front towards the back, each controllerdisposable in:

I. a securing state disposing the corresponding securing band in itssecuring position; and

II. a release state disposing the corresponding securing band in itsrelease position. The release state of each controller occurs when thefront portion of the controller is held by a corresponding releasecatch. The bands are operable to accommodate projectiles of varyinglengths. The securing bands include a spiral band part for each of thezones, each spiral band part having a back secured to the assembly bodyand extending towards the front of the assembly body and operable to atleast partially spiral around a projectile. Each controller isspring-biased towards its securing state by its own resilience. Theapparatus further comprises a plurality of locking portions, eachlocking portion corresponding to one of the controllers, and operable tolock the corresponding controller in its securing position. Theapparatus further comprises a gang control disposable in a locking statesuch that the securing bands are locked against movement out of theirsecuring positions by the locking portions. The gang control is movablymounted to the assembly body and operable to change the state of thecontrollers such that the positions of the securing bands are in turnchanged. Each of the locking portions is part of the gang control.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other features of the present invention will be morereadily understood when the following detailed description of theinvention is considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawingswherein like characters represent like parts throughout and in which:

FIG. 1 shows a simplified perspective view with parts broken away andillustrating various of the projectile locking parts of the presentinvention.

FIG. 2 shows a simplified perspective view of the projectile holdingapparatus of the present invention from a different angle than FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 shows a front view of the present invention.

FIG. 4 shows a side view of the present invention.

FIG. 5 shows a bottom view of the present invention.

FIG. 6 shows a detailed view of a handle as used with the presentinvention.

FIG. 7 shows a detail of a slide mounting of a part of the presentinvention.

FIG. 8 shows a detail of a slide mounting of a part of the presentinvention.

FIG. 9 shows a band configuration which may be used with the presentinvention.

FIG. 10 shows a top view of a rod controller which may be used with thepresent invention.

FIG. 11 shows a side of the rod controller.

FIG. 12 shows an end view of the rod controller.

FIG. 13 shows a front view of a slidable structure used with the presentinvention.

FIG. 14 shows a side view of the slidable structure.

FIG. 15 shows how the present projectile holding apparatus may beattached to the base of a battlefield magazine.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Turning now to FIGS. 1-4, the overall structure of the projectileholding apparatus 10 of the present invention will be discussed. FIG. 1shows a perspective view illustrating various key components of thepresent invention. FIG. 2 shows a simplified perspective view of theapparatus 10 from another angle. FIG. 3 shows a front view of thepresent invention, whereas FIG. 4 shows a side view.

The projectile holding apparatus 10 has a front 12F and a back 12B witha plurality of cylindrical projectile storage tubes 14 extendingtherebetween. Disposed at the back 12B is a back support structure 16B,whereas a front support structure 16F is disposed at the front 12F ofthe projectile holding apparatus or rack 10. Together, the front andback support structures 16F and 16B constitute a rack frame providingsupport for the projectile storage tubes 14 and any projectiles storedwithin the storage tubes. Each of the support structures 16F and 16Bincludes a number of vertical posts 18F and 18B respectively with one ormore horizontal supporting members 20F and 20B respectively extendingtherebetween.

Although only top horizontal members 20F and 20B are shown (seeespecially FIG. 2), additional bottom and middle (i.e., intermediate thetwo horizontal rows of projectile storage tubes 14) may also beincluded. For simplicity sake, the horizontal members 20F and 20B arenot shown in the simplified perspective of FIG. 1. Additionally,front-to-back support braces may optionally be included to extend fromthe front support structure 16F to the back support structure 16B.

The front support structure 16F further includes a front plate 22 bestshown in FIG. 1. The front and back support structures 16F and 16B arepositioned such that the two-by-five array of projectile storage tubes14 are open at their fronts (corresponding to the front side 12F of theprojectile storage rack 10) and at their backs (corresponding to theback of the projectile storage rack 10). The assembly body comprised ofthe projectile storage tubes 14 and front and back support structures16F and 16B include a plurality of projectile storage zones extendingfrom the back to the front, each of the zones defined by one of theprojectile storage tubes 14 and operable to hold at least part of aprojectile freely accessible through the open front of the zone as bestshown for projectile 24 in FIG. 1.

The front support structure 16F has a release catch portion 26Mcorresponding to each of the projectile tubes 14 and projectingforwardly from the front plate 22. Each release catch portion 26Mincludes a release catch 26C as best shown in FIGS. 1, 2, and 3. Each ofthe release catches 26C corresponds on a one-to-one basis with one ofthe projectile storage tubes 14.

Concentrating now on FIGS. 1, 4, 5, and 9-12, the apparatus used forsecuring projectiles within the projectile storage tubes 14 will bediscussed in detail. FIG. 5 shows a bottom view of the projectileholding apparatus or storage rack 10, whereas FIG. 9 shows a securingportion used with the present invention. FIGS. 10, 11, and 12respectively show top, side, and end views of a rod controller used withthe present invention.

Each of the projectile storage tubes 14 includes a securing band 28disposed therein. The securing band 28 shown in plane view in FIG. 9preferably includes a spiral band part 30S and a cylindrical band part30C. As shown in FIG. 9, the securing band 28 may be a single band in aY-like shape. Alternately, and as shown in FIG. 1, a securing band 28'may include a separate spiral band part 30S' and cylindrical band part30C' attached together. In either case, the mounting and operation ofthe band is basically the same.

As best shown in FIG. 4, the back of the spiral band part 30S is fixedat point 32B at the back 12B of projectile storage rack 10. Preferably,the securing point 32B is bolted to one of the back vertical posts 18B,each of the storage tubes 14 including a upwardly out turned part 34B(see especially FIGS. 2 and 3) to allow the back anchor point 32B to bedisposed just outside the normal confines of cylindrical tube 14.

Disposed at the front of the securing band 28 (or 28') is a frontsecuring or anchor point 32F (FIG. 4) which is preferably outside of thecorresponding cylindrical tube 14 as accommodated by front cut-outportion 34F (see especially FIG. 2) and mounted to one of the verticalsupport posts 18F.

As best shown in FIG. 1, the cylindrical part 30C' (or 30C) of the steelband 28' (or 28) extends down through a front slot 36 to a lower end30L' (or 30L) which is looped around or otherwise secured to a releaserod controller 38 having a manual control knob 40 mounted upon threads40T (FIGS. 10 and 11) at its front end. As best shown in FIGS. 5 and 10,each of the rod controllers 38 includes a front portion comprising afront linear part 42FL, a bend 42D, and a back generally linear part42BL. At the back of part 42BL is a 180° bend 44 which leads to aforwardly extending portion 46F, a second 180° bend 46T which turns to abackward mounting part 46M. As shown in FIGS. 11 and 12, the parts 40T,42FL, 42D and 42BL are coplanar with forwardly extending portion 46Fextending out and above the plane.

As best shown in the bottom view of FIG. 5, tne mounting part 46M ofeach of the controllers 38 is hooked into a part of the vertical frontpost 18F. Because the front panel 22 (refer back momentarily to FIG. 2)is welded or otherwise fixed to the front of the front vertical post18F, each of the resilient steel rod controllers 38 is captured withinthe corresponding projectile storage zone of the tubes 14. Asillustrated in FIG. 5, each of the controllers 38 is disposed below thecorresponding projectile storage tube 14.

The basic operation of the securing portions constituted by securingbands 28 or 28' is best understood by reference to FIG. 1. As shown inthe lower part of FIG. 1, the projectile 24 is secured within thecorresponding projectile storage tube 14 by the securing band 28' beingbiased rightwardly by the rod controller 38. This causes the cylindricalpart 30C' to compress against the ogive of the projectile 24 and thespiral part 30S' to extend in a partial spiral around the projectile 24.The spring bias on controller 38 is due to its own resilience. Inaddition to pushing the lower part 30L' of the securing band 28'rightwardly, the natural resilience of the controller 38 and thelocation of the mounting part 46M generally bias the front part 42FL ofthe controller 38 upwardly against the release catch portion 26M.

In the position shown at the bottom of FIG. 1, the projectile 24 will besecured within the projectile storage zone defined by storage tube 14.In order to remove the projectile 24, one may simply use the manual knob40 to slide the controller 38 leftwardly and up into the release catch26 to assume the position as shown for the upper controller 38 inFIG. 1. In this position, the securing band 28' will be movedsufficiently outwardly (recall that the lower end 30L' of band 28' issecured to the controller 38) such that a projectile may be removed orplaced within the projectile storage tube 14. In order to individuallysecure a new projectile within one of the storage tubes 14, one simplypushes down on the control knob 40 and the natural resilience of thespring rod controller 38 moves it back to the position shown for thebottom of FIG. 1.

Considering FIG. 13 in conjunction with FIGS. 1-4, a gang control 48 foruse with the present invention will be discussed in detail. The gangcontrol 48 includes a slidable structure 50 having an upper horizontalbar portion 52U and a lower horizontal bar portion 52L with a pluralityof vertical portions 52V extending therebetween so as to form a pictureframe type rectangular opening around each of the lower row projectiletubes 14. As shown, the intersections of the horizontal bar portions 52Uand 52L with the vertical bar portions 52V may be reinforced withgussets.

As best shown in the front view of the slidable structure 50 a pluralityof release fingers 54 are mounted upon the slidable structure 50. Eachof the release fingers 54 may be used to release a correspondingcontroller 38 from its corresponding release catch 26C in a mannerdescribed in detail below.

With reference especially now to FIGS. 2, 3, 4, and the detailed slidemounting front views of FIGS. 7 and 8, the mounting of the slidablestructure 50 will be discussed in detail. In particular, upper bosses56U are fixedly mounted to the right and left vertical end posts 18F toproject forwardly therefrom. Slide pins 58U slidably secure thestructure 50 to the bosses 56U, the sliding being accommodated by theupper slots 60U as shown in the detailed front view of FIG. 7. Althoughthe bosses 56U are shown disposed at the same level as the lower row ofprojectile tubes 14, the bosses 56U could alternately be mounted higheron the post 18F to be at the same level as the upper row of projectilestorage tubes 14.

In addition to being slidably mounted upon the bosses 56U, the structure50 is slidably mounted upon lower bosses 56L fixed to the front plate 22or to the vertical posts 18F. As shown in the detailed view of one ofthe pairs of bosses 56L, a slide pin 58L extends between the bosses 56Land allows sliding movement of one of the vertical portions 52V of theslidable structure 50 by virtue of slot 60L.

The side view of FIG. 14 shows the positioning of slots 60U and 60L.Additionally, FIG. 14 shows that from the left side view of the slidablestructure 50, a projecting portion 62 extends frontwardly therefrom.With reference also to FIGS. 1-4, it will be appreciated that two suchprojecting portions 62 extend forwardly from two of the vertical barportions 52V to allow links 64 to be pivotably connected thereto. Theopposite or upper end of the links 64 are pivotably connected tocorresponding handles 66. With additional reference to the detailedfront view of FIG. 6, the handles 66 of the gang control 48 are fixed tobosses 68 by pivot pins 70. The bosses 68 extend frontwardly from theprojectile storage rack 10 to be within the connecting links 64. Theconnecting links 64 are pivotably connected to the handle 66 by pivotpin 72.

Concentrating now on FIG. 1, each of the controllers 38 (only two areshown in FIG. 1) has a corresponding serrated locking portion 74 (onlytwo are shown in FIG. 1). For ease of illustration of other components,the serrated portions 74 are not shown in the figures other than FIG. 1.Each of the serrated locking portions 74 includes a number of grooves orlock catches 76 to which the corresponding controller 38 may be lockedin a manner discussed in detail below.

The operation of the gang control 48 may be used to change the state ofthe controllers 38. Additionally, the gang control 48 may be used tolock the controllers 38 in their secured (i.e., right-most, projectilesecuring) positions.

In the position shown in FIG. 1, the gang control 48 is in a neutralstate with the handles 66 (only one shown in FIG. 1) extending generallyhorizontally. The individual controllers 38 may be used to secure orrelease projectiles from the corresponding projectile storage tubes 14by disposing the individual controller 38 within its corresponding catch26C or releasing it from its corresponding catch 26C whereupon itsnatural resilience will spring it back to its securing position as shownat the bottom of FIG. 1. If it becomes advisable to immediately secureall of the projectiles, the gang control 48 may be used to change eachof the controllers 38 from their release position at release catch 26Cto their securing right-most position. Specifically, the handles 26 arerotated downwardly from the position shown in FIG. 1 so as to slide thestructure 50 downwardly relative to the front plate 22. The releasefingers 54 associated with each of the controllers 38 will push each ofthe controllers 38 below the release catch 26C such that it springsrightwardly. The handles 66 will be extending downwardly at or nearvertical. Thus, the release handles 66 may be used to simultaneouslysecure all of the projectiles within the projectile storage rack 10. Thespring force of the controllers 38 pushes the securing portion orsecuring band 28 or 28' against the projectile to prevent it from movingforwardly. However, in order to even more securely hold the projectiles24, the handles 66 are then rotated upwardly to the position shown inFIGS. 2 and 4. This in turn moves the slidable structure 50 upwardly byvirtue of the connecting links 64 such that the controllers 38 will beseated within one of the lock catches 76 in serrated locking portions74. Noting that the release catch portions 26M project forwardly inbetween the slidable structure 50, the controllers 38 will then belocked in place. Sideways movement of the controllers 38 will beimpossible due to the lock catches 76 on the serrated portions 74,whereas upwards movement of the controller 38 will be impossible due tothe bottom surface of the release catch portion 26M.

With momentary reference back to FIG. 6, it should be appreciated thatthe positioning of the pivot pins 70 and 72 is such as to provide anover toggle arrangement for the handles 66. In other words, once thehandles are in the upper position of FIGS. 2 and 4, they are stable andmust be positively forced over the center of toggle to obtain theposition shown in FIG. 1. Likewise, the position of FIG. 1 is a stableposition for the handles 66.

From its locking state as shown in FIGS. 2 and 4, the gang control 48may be disposed in its neutral state by simply rotating the handles 66to the FIG. 1 position such that the individual controllers 38 may beused to secure and release projectiles. Moving the controllers 38between their release and securing positions or states in turn moves thesecuring bands 28' or 28 between corresponding release and securingpositions.

As mentioned above, it is preferred that each of the storage tubes 14includes an open back, this feature being preferable to allow theprojectile holding apparatus 10 of the present invention to constitute aprojectile locking front which may be attached to a base of abattlefield magazine 78 and shown with reference to FIG. 15. Inparticular, the projectile holding apparatus front 10 may be bolted orotherwise fixed to the battlefield magazine base 78. A particular mannerof connecting the projectile holding apparatus 10 to the battlefieldmagazine base 78 is described in detail in the concurrently filedapplication entitled "BATTLEFIELD MAGAZINE", invented by the currentinventor with Paul H. Borst, assigned to the assignee of the presentapplication, and hereby incorporated by reference. That application, nowU.S. patent application Ser. No. 643,189, filed 8-23-84, shows how theprojectile holding apparatus 10 of the present invention may be used asa projectile locking front. Alternately however, the projectile holdingapparatus 10 could constitute a complete rack without connection to thebase 78. The rack would include a closed off back similar in structureto the above referenced Perisastry et al. patent except that theprojectile securing and locking mechanisms used with the presentinvention are quite different.

The projectile holding apparatus 10 of the present invention ispreferably made of steel or other durable materials.

The locking portions 74 may be serrated in the manner shown oralternately could be realized by a friction pad. In either case, itshould be noted that the spiral band 28 or 28' will conform to the ogiveof the projectile even with variations in projectile length. In otherwords, the reason for including a plurality of lock catches 76 withinthe locking portion 74 is to accommodate different locking positions forthe controllers 38 depending upon length variations in the projectiles.The steel bands 28 or 28' will also accommodate some variations indiameter for the projectiles.

By mounting of the locking portions 74 upon the slidable structure 50 ofthe gang control 48, the gang control 48 may be used to gang lock andgang unlock each of the projectiles. By placement of each of the lockingportions 74 upon the slidable structure 50 of gang control 48, thesecuring portions 28 or 28' may be locked and unlocked together by useof the handles 66. This gang locking occurs by simply rotating thehandles 66 upwardly as discussed in detail above, whereas the gangunlocking occurs by moving the handles 66 down to their neutral position(FIG. 1). In the neutral position, the projectiles are unlocked in thatthere is no positive mechanical barrier towards their removal. Instead,the natural resilience of the spring rod controllers 38 holds them inplace.

Although various specific structures have been described in detailherein, it is to be understood that these are for illustrative purposesonly. Various modifications and adaptations will be readily apparent tothose of ordinary skill in the art. Accordingly, the scope of thepresent invention should be determined by reference to the claimsappended hereto.

What is claimed is:
 1. An apparatus for securely holding projectilescomprising:(a) an assembly body having a front, a back, and a pluralityof projectile storage zones extending from said back to said front, eachof said zones being open at its front and operable to hold at least partof a projectile with the nose of the projectile freely accessible; (b) aplurality of securing portions, each securing portion corresponding toone of said zones, and disposable in:I. a securing position to preventmovement of a projectile out of said corresponding zone through saidfront; and II. a release position to allow removal of a projectile outof the corresponding zone through said front; (c) a plurality ofmanually operable controllers, each controller corresponding with one ofsaid securing portions and independently disposable in:I. a securingstate disposing said corresponding securing portion in its securingposition; and II. a release state disposing said corresponding securingportion in its release position; and (d) a gang control disposable in asecuring state wherein said securing portions are moved from theirrelease positions to their securing positions.Iadd., and wherein each ofsaid securing portions includes a securing band which is operable insaid securing position to directly contact a projectile in thecorresponding zone, each securing band attached to a corresponding oneof said controllers.Iaddend..
 2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein eachof said controllers is disposed in its release state by placing it in acorresponding release catch, and wherein said gang control is operableto move said securing portions from their release positions to theirsecuring positions by displacing said controllers from theircorresponding release catches.
 3. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein eachof said controllers is spring-biased and .[.each of said securingportions includes a securing band attached to one of said controllers.]..Iadd.each of said securing bands is spring-biased towards its securingposition.Iaddend..
 4. .[.The apparatus of claim 1.]. .Iadd.An apparatusfor securely holding projectiles comprising:(a) an assembly body havinga front, a back, and a plurality of projectile storage zones extendingfrom said back to said front, each of said zones being open at its frontand operable to hold at least part of a projectile with the nose of theprojectile freely accessible; (b) a plurality of securing portions, eachsecuring portion corresponding to one of said zones, and disposablein:I. a securing position to prevent movement of a projectile out ofsaid corresponding zone through said front; and II. a release positionto allow removal of a projectile out of the corresponding zone throughsaid front; (c) a plurality of manually operable controllers, eachcontroller corresponding with one of said securing portions andindependently disposable in:I. a securing state disposing saidcorresponding securing portion in its securing position; and II. arelease state disposing said corresponding securing portion in itsrelease position; and (d) a gang control disposable in a securing statewherein said securing portions are moved from their release positions totheir securing positions, and .Iaddend.wherein said gang controlincludes a slidable structure mounted at said front of said assemblybody for up and down sliding movement.
 5. The apparatus of claim 4wherein said gang control further includes at least one handle pivotablymounted to said front of said assembly body and operable to move saidslidable structure.
 6. The apparatus of claim 4 wherein said gangcontrol is further disposable in a locking state such that said securingportions may be locked against movement out of their securing positions.7. The apparatus of claim 6 wherein said gang control is furtherdisposable in a neutral state wherein said controllers may beindividually set to either their securing positions or their releasingpositions, and, in said neutral state, said slidable structure of saidgang control is intermediate to its positions corresponding to thesecuring state of said gang control and the locking state of said gangcontrol.
 8. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said securing portions areflexible bands operable to accommodate projectiles of varying lengths.9. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said securing portions each includea spiral band part secured at its back to said assembly body andextending towards said front of said assembly body and operable to atleast partially spiral around a projectile.
 10. An apparatus forsecurely holding projectiles comprising:(a) an assembly body having afront, a back, and a plurality of projectile storage zones extendingfrom said back to said front, each of said zones being open at its frontand operable to hold at least part of a projectile with the nose of theprojectile freely accessible; (b) a plurality of securing portions, eachsecuring portion corresponding to one of said zones, and disposablein:I. a securing position to prevent movement of a projectile out ofsaid corresponding zone through said front; and II. a release positionto allow removal of a projectile out of the corresponding zone throughsaid front; (c) a plurality of manually operable controllers, eachcontroller corresponding with one of said securing portions andindependently disposable in:I. a securing state disposing saidcorresponding securing portion in its securing position; and II. arelease state disposing said corresponding securing portion in itsrelease position; and (d) a gang control disposable in a locking statesuch that said securing portions may be locked against movement out oftheir securing positions.Iadd., and said gang control is furtherdisposable in a securing state wherein said securing portions are movedfrom their release positions to their securing positions and disposablein a neutral state wherein said controllers may be individually set toeither their securing positions or their releasing positions.Iaddend..11. The apparatus of claim 10 wherein said gang control is movablymounted to said assembly body and operable to change the state of saidcontrollers such that the positions of said securing portions are inturn changed.
 12. The apparatus of claim 11 wherein said gang control.[.is further disposable in a securing state wherein said securingportions are moved from their release positions to their securingpositions.]. .Iadd.includes a slidable structure mounted at said frontof said assembly body for up and down sliding movement, and wherein saidsecuring state corresponds to said slidable structure being disposed ina lowermost position, said locking state corresponds to said slidablestructure being disposed in an uppermost position, and said neutralstate corresponds to said slidable structure being disposed in anintermediate position.Iaddend..
 13. The apparatus of claim 10 furthercomprising at least one lock catch corresponding to each of saidcontrollers and operable to prevent movement of the correspondingcontroller and, in turn, lock the corresponding securing portion in itssecuring position.
 14. The apparatus of claim 13 wherein said gangcontrol includes a slidable structure mounted at said front of saidassembly body for up and down sliding movement.
 15. The apparatus ofclaim 14 wherein each lock catch is one of a series of serratedportions, each serrated portion corresponding to one of saidcontrollers.
 16. The apparatus of claim 15 wherein each serrated portionis mounted to said slidable structure for movement therewith.
 17. Theapparatus of claim 14 wherein said gang control further includes atleast one handle pivotably mounted to said front of said assembly bodyand operable to move said slidable structure.
 18. The apparatus of claim14 wherein .[.said gang control is further disposabl in a neutral statewherein said controllers may be individually set to either theirsecuring positions or their releasing positions, and,.]. in said neutralstate, said slidable structure of said gang control is below itsposition corresponding to the locking state of said gang control. 19.The apparatus of claim 14 wherein said zones are arranged in rows andsaid slidable structure includes at least an upper horizontal bar, alower horizontal bar and two connecting bars extending therebetween,each horizontal bar corresponding to a row of said zones.
 20. Theapparatus of claim 13 wherein each of said controllers is spring-biasedand each of said securing portions includes a securing band attached toone of said controllers.
 21. An apparatus for securely holdingprojectiles comprising:(a) an assembly body having a front, a back, anda plurality of projectile storage zones extending from said back to saidfront, each of said zones being open at its front and operable to holdat least part of a projectile with the nose of the projectile freelyaccessible; (b) a plurality of securing portions, each securing portioncorresponding to one of said zones, and disposable in:I. a securingposition to prevent movement of a projectile out of said correspondingzone through said front; and II. a release position to allow removal ofa projectile out of the corresponding zone through said front; (c) aplurality of manually operable controllers, each controllercorresponding with one of said securing portions and independentlydisposable in:I. a securing state disposing said corresponding securingportion in its securing position; and II. a release state disposing saidcorresponding securing portion in its release position; and (d) a gangcontrol movably mounted to said body and operable to change the positionof said securing portions.Iadd., and wherein said gang control isoperable for gang unlocking by removing positive mechanical barriers tomovement of stored projectiles in a plurality of said zones.Iaddend..22. The apparatus of claim 21 wherein said gang control is operable tochange the state of said controllers such that the positions of saidsecuring portions are in turn changed.
 23. The apparatus of claim 21wherein said gang control is disposable in a locking state such thatsaid securing portions may be locked against movement out of theirsecuring positions.
 24. The apparatus of claim 23 wherein said gangcontrol is further disposable in a securing state wherein said securingportions are moved from their release positions to their securingpositions.
 25. The apparatus of claim 24 wherein said gang control isfurther disposable in a neutral state wherein said controllers may beindividually set to either their securing positions or their releasingpositions.
 26. The apparatus of claim 21 wherein each of saidcontrollers is spring-biased and each of said securing portions includesa securing band attached to one of said controllers.
 27. The apparatusof claim 21 wherein said gang control includes a slidable structuremounted at said front of said assembly body for up and down slidingmovement.
 28. The apparatus of claim 27 wherein each of said controllersis disposed in its release state by placing it in a correspondingrelease catch, and wherein said gang control is operable to move saidsecuring portions from their release positions to their securingpositions by displacing said controllers from their correspondingrelease catches.
 29. The apparatus of claim 28 wherein said gang controlfurther includes at least one handle pivotably mounted to said front ofsaid assembly body and operable to move said slidable structure.
 30. Anapparatus for securely holding projectiles comprising:(a) an assemblybody having a front, a back, and a plurality of projectile storage zonesextending from said back to said front, each of said zones being open atits front and operable to hold at least part of a projectile with thenose of the projectile freely accessible; (b) a plurality of securingbands operable to secure projectiles at their ogives, at least onesecuring band corresponding to each of said zones and disposable in:I. asecuring position to prevent movement of a projectile out of saidcorresponding zone through said front; and II. a release position toallow removal of a projectile out of the corresponding zone through saidfront; and (c) a plurality of spring-biased manually operable rodcontrollers, each controller corresponding with one of said zones,attached to a corresponding one of said securing bands, and having afront portion extending generally from said front towards said back,each controller disposable in:I. a securing state disposing saidcorresponding securing band in its securing position; and II. a releasestate disposing said corresponding securing band in its releaseposition.
 31. The apparatus of claim 30 wherein said front portion ofeach controller is held by a corresponding release catch when thecontroller is in its release state.
 32. The apparatus of claim 31wherein said bands are operable to accommodate projectiles of varyinglengths.
 33. The apparatus of claim 30 wherein said securing bandsinclude a spiral band part for each of said zones, each spiral band parthaving a back secured to said assembly body and extending towards saidfront of said assembly body and operable to at least partially spiralaround a projectile.
 34. The apparatus of claim 30 wherein saidcontroller is spring-biased towards its securing state by its ownresilience.
 35. The apparatus of claim 34 further comprising a pluralityof locking portions, each locking portion corresponding to one of saidcontrollers, and operable to lock the corresponding controller in itssecuring state.
 36. The apparatus of claim 35 further comprising a gangcontrol disposable in a locking state such that said securing bands arelocked against movement out of their securing positions by said lockingportions.
 37. The apparatus of claim 36 wherein said gang control ismovably mounted to said assembly body and operable to change the stateof said controllers such that the positions of said securing bands arein turn changed.
 38. The apparatus of claim 37 wherein each of saidlocking portions is part of said gang control.
 39. The apparatus ofclaim 36 wherein said gang control includes a slidable structure mountedat said front of said assembly body for up and down sliding movement.40. The apparatus of claim 30 further comprising a gang controldisposable in a locking state such that said securing bands are lockedagainst movement out of their securing positions.